Health at a Glance 2025: Belgium
Table of contents
Health at a Glance provides a comprehensive set of indicators on population health and health system performance across OECD Members, Key Partners and accession candidate countries. These indicators cover health status, non-medical determinants and risk factors, access to and quality of healthcare, health spending and health system resources. Analysis draws from the latest comparable official national statistics and other sources.
This country note shows how Belgium compares to other OECD countries across a selection of key indicators from the report.
Belgium performs better than the OECD average on 8 out of 10 key indicators measuring health status and risk factors for health.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025.
Health status
In Belgium, life expectancy was 82.5 years, 1.4 years above the OECD average.
Preventable mortality was 134 per 100 000 in Belgium (lower than the OECD average of 145); with treatable mortality at 50 per 100 000 (lower than the OECD average of 77).
Suicide rates were 14 per 100 000 population in Belgium, compared to the OECD average of 11 deaths per 100 000 population.
8.3% of people in Belgium rated their health as bad or very bad (OECD average 8.0%).
Risk factors for health
Daily smoking prevalence in Belgium, at 12.8%, was lower than the OECD average of 14.8%.
Alcohol consumption was similar to the OECD average; at 7.8 litres per capita in Belgium versus 8.5.
29% of adults in Belgium did not perform sufficient physical activity, similar to the OECD average of 30%.
Self-reported obesity prevalence was 17% in Belgium, lower than the OECD average of 19%.
People in Belgium were exposed to 11.1 micrograms of ambient particulate matter (PM2.5) per cubic metre (OECD average 11.2 micrograms).
See Health at a Glance 2025, Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 for further details on these and related indicators.
Belgium performs better than the OECD average on 5 out of 10 key indicators measuring access to and quality of care.
Note: AMI: Acute Myocardial Infarction. DDD: Defined Daily Dose.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025.
Access to care
In Belgium, 98% of the population is covered for a core set of services.
86% of people in Belgium were satisfied with the availability of quality healthcare (OECD average 64%).
In terms of financial coverage, 74% of spending in Belgium was covered by mandatory prepayment, lower than the OECD average of 75%.
1.3% of people in Belgium expressed unmet needs for healthcare, compared to the OECD average of 3.4%.
Quality of care
97% of children at 1 year were vaccinated against DTP in Belgium, higher than the OECD average.
58% of women in Belgium were screened for breast cancer, higher than the OECD average of 55%.
Belgium prescribed 19 defined daily doses of antibiotics per 1 000 population, more than the OECD average of 16.
There were 529 avoidable admissions per 100 000 population in Belgium, more than the OECD average of 473.
In Belgium, 30‑day mortality after AMI was 7.0% (OECD average 6.5%), and 8.0% after stroke (OECD average 7.7%), based on unlinked data.
See Health at a Glance 2025, Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 for further details on these and related indicators.
Belgium has more resources than the OECD average on 6 out of 10 key indicators measuring health system resources.
Note: CT: Computer Tomography; MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging; PET: Positron Emission Tomography.
Source: OECD Health Statistics 2025.
Health spending
Belgium spends $7 750 per capita on health, more than the OECD average of $5 967 (USD PPP).
This is equal to 11.0% of GDP, compared to 9.3% on average in the OECD.
Belgium spends 1.8% of total health spending on prevention in current health expenditure, less than the OECD average of 3.4%.
Health workforce
There are 3.4 practising doctors per 1 000 population in Belgium (OECD average 3.9); and 11.5 practising nurses (OECD average 9.2).
The number of long-term care workers per 100 people aged 65 years and over in Belgium is 4.1, similar to the OECD average of 5.0.
There are 128 pharmacists per 100 000 population in Belgium, compared to the OECD average of 86.
Hospitals and equipment
Belgium has 5.4 hospital beds per 1 000 population, higher than the OECD average of 4.2.
There are 40 CT scanners, MRI units and PET scanners per million population in Belgium (OECD average 51).
The share of generics in the pharmaceutical market (by volume) is 79% in Belgium, compared to the OECD average of 56%.
See Health at a Glance 2025, Chapter 5, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 for further details on these and related indicators.
Health at a Glance provides a comprehensive set of indicators on population health and health system performance across OECD Members, Key Partners and accession candidate countries. These indicators cover health status, non-medical determinants and risk factors, access to and quality of healthcare, health spending and health system resources. Analysis draws from the latest comparable official national statistics and other sources.
Alongside indicator-by-indicator analysis, an overview chapter summarises the comparative performance of countries and major trends. This edition also includes a thematic chapter on gender and health.
This work is published under the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Member countries of the OECD.
This document, as well as any data and map included herein, are without prejudice to the status of or sovereignty over any territory, to the delimitation of international frontiers and boundaries and to the name of any territory, city or area.
The statistical data for Israel are supplied by and under the responsibility of the relevant Israeli authorities. The use of such data by the OECD is without prejudice to the status of the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank under the terms of international law.
The full book is available in English: OECD (2025), Health at a Glance 2025, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/8f9e3f98-en.
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